Abandon: Underworld by Meg Cabot

About the book

Underworld is the second book in the Abandon trilogy by Meg Cabot. The book was published by Macmillan Children’s Books on 27^th September 2012 and the book is 256 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn't dead.

Not this time.

But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey.

Her captor, John Hayden, claims it's for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they've come back as Furies, intent on vengeance . . . on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves.

But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there . . . and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies.

And unless Pierce is careful, this time there'll be no escape.

What I thought

I remember not completely loving the first book in this series, Abandon, but really liking the idea of the story, which is why I wanted to read the second book.

Underworld begins right where Abandon left off, with Pierce in the Underworld with John after her Grandmother overtaken by a Fury tried to kill her… again. However, last time Pierce was in the Underworld, it didn’t go too well and she managed to get away. There isn’t an option of leaving this time though because John has locked doors and now Pierce also realises the danger she is in. I really liked the beginning of the book, it reminded me of what happened previously but without going over it too much. It also set the scene well for Pierce and John and where their relationship was heading.

Strangely, I also really liked the setting of the Underworld. Meg Cabot has created somewhere quite magical and creepy at the same time. Things happen in the Underworld which cannot really be explained and John doesn’t hesitate to give Pierce vague answers when she asks about things. The Underworld actually sounded like a pretty cool place to be - as long as you were nowhere near the dead people of course. The setting also brings with it more explanations about some of the mythology aspects which I enjoyed reading about.

Underworld was actually more exciting for me than Abandon, even though that was a book where a lot happened. Pierce finds her mobile phone in a bag and then sees her cousin Alex is real trouble. This begins the excitement of the story with Pierce and John heading back to the human world to make sure he’s ok. There are quite a few new characters introduced in this book too so there is excitement surrounding them too because there is so much to find out about them. I loved the mixture of action with new characters and introductions.

My only problem really with this book was the way it was written. Cabot’s writing style seems a little confused at times. In some parts, the book read like an essay because of the choice of some words or the way that some things were worded e.g. the way in which. This is probably just me being picky but it made some parts of the book sound more serious than it was and also not as fun as it could have been.

I did really like Underworld though and can’t wait to read the final book in the trilogy.